Why try to drag down what Hillary and Tenzing accomplished? Even if they weren't the very first (it is generally regarded that they were), it still doesn't make it any easier, the support team weren't climbing the mountain, just four men, and Tenzing has always been recognised as a co-summiter, definately not pushed under history by Hillary, in fact, the picture at the Summit is of Tenzing, not Edmund.

I talked a bit about the hammock. The flip flops were never for riding, just around camp. I used mountain bike SPD shoes most of the time.

http://cyclingnorthamerica.blogspot.com/
(looking for feedback on what I have written so far)

Growing up in the UK we were always taught that Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing were the first to climb Everest. The two names were always mentioned together which is just how both men wanted it i imagine. However, there is a possibility that George Malory summited Everest in the 1920s and died on the way down. His body was found a few years ago

Yes, and without the photograph he was to have left at the summit . . . quite possible he did.

Just like to add my two cents here. Maybe touring could be spiced up if you ignored the Adventure Cycling routes and went off the beaten path?

I recently went through a small town in Mississippi. People 30 miles away didn't even know about the town. I got there at dusk and was desperate for a camping spot. I went up the chain of command to the mayor, and the mayor let me and my bud stay in their community center. We were also featured in the local paper. The cops and all the local officials spoke to us, and they thought we were really something for going through their small town and stopping to speak to people. The mayor and vice mayor also bought us groceries for the night. It was incredible.

I'm not bashing anything. I've never used Adventure Cycling, although I've taken the Natchez which I found to be a little uneventful. Google maps (walking directions) has led us to some very unique places and given me some unique stories, none of which I'd have if I was driving a car. Touring...boring? Never.

This is kind of along the lines of what I was wondering. Why do people tie themselves to the Adventure Cycling routes? I can see that perhaps they might be the easiest routes, and maybe some people need to be told where to go all the time, and perhaps it takes away any doubt about where you might spend the night ................ But with my personality, if I did have the urge to cycle across the US, I'd rather just pick up a map of Washington from my local CAA, and then maybe another one once I got to Washington, from a Tourist Info centre, and then ..... start cycling roughly east, and see what happens.

Nothing wrong with doing your own thing route wise, but the AC routes aren't all that beaten of a path. Your experience in Mississippi was not that different from some we had on the TA. We did some route improvising and as a result went off route part of the time when we did the TA. In my experience touring on or off of the TA weren't that much different except for having better information about what is coming up wrt services and road conditions. I would imagine that would be even more the case on the other AC routes.

I admire you spontaneity with touring, but I prefer to stick to designated routes for one reason: They are usually optimized to keep you off busy roads, which I really dislike. Otherwise, I'm in complete agreement!

One reason the media no longer cares about these stories is because people can promote their adventure through their own website/blog . We no longer need 'media' to distribute our story when we can use the internet. Consequently the only stories the media are interested in are highly unusual/extraordinary efforts.

What are some ways we could make crossing the continent on a bicycle more extraordinary and news worthy? Maybe stop in every town and pick up all the litter? Wear a blindfold? Oh, I know: Do it naked. Anything naked will get you on TV, and you have the extra danger of trying to dodge the police in areas with conservative value. The next best thing would be to wear just underwear I suppose. It would help to be attractive too. I am definitely doing this next tour. Watch for me on the news.

I am not sure what you are getting at with this sarcasm. My point is the internet has dramatically changed the role of media. Everyday newspapers and TV stations are struggling to survive. It is the media that has changed, not touring.

I was completely serious. Riding cross country naked would make an interesting news story. Just riding across the country wouldn't.

Although bicycle touring has gain wide popularity and notoriety among the internet bicyclist crowd, it's not the same with the majority of people out there, many of whom have never heard of or really thought about the concept traveling on bicycle long distances.

I think bike tourists are still so few and far between in our culture that most of the public thinks of us as doing some great feat, even though we may know that it's a little less than that.

hypothetical conversation

"...WOW, you're going to ride your bike 1000 miles!!??"

"Uh, yeah, should take me a couple of weeks or so :| ."

Get into Randonneuring and that hypothetical conversation would be modified slightly ...


"...WOW, you're going to ride your bike 1000 miles!!??"

"Uh, yeah, should take me a few days."

Most non-cyclists can't even grasp that sort of thing ... their eyes glaze over and they walk away.

The Internet has created a vast storehouse of mediocrity. On the other hand there are some great resources that wouldn't exist without it.

Great writing and photography still benefit from professional editing, but in some respects it could be argued that the web has "democratized" publishing. It's up to the viewers to sift the wheat from the chaff. It just takes a great deal of winnowing to find anything worthwhile investing time viewing/reading.

Ultimately though, all second-hand experience is counterfeit. No one can create an adventure for you. You need to get out on the road and find your own "story." Cycle touring is simply a vehicle for internal life experiences.

What purpose would this serve? When I did my first (unsponsored) tours, I certainly wasn't seeking attention. I just wanted to test myself and my equipment and, most importantly, smell the wild roses and other roadside flora.

Later, when I needed to make the time pay for itself, I attracted sponsors ... with my long-term experience in the outdoor biz and my professional photography skills.

These days, it seems everyone who sets out on a bicycle for a week or two has to have a website/blog/YouTube account.

Having done it both ways, I have to say that being unencumbered and untainted by commercial concerns is the only way to give oneself over to the road and to one's inner life.

hehe that's exactly what I've learned. i did my first ever tour a few weeks ago (Boston to NY 200 miles) and everyone I told about was so impressed. during my trip here are some of the responses I got from others when they learned I was biking 200 miles:

Friend: "Man, that's ballsy"
Sister: (after I trying to calm her concerns about me getting run over on I-95) "You know, you sound really cocky"
My dorm Security Guard: "You've got nuts, kid"
Pizza Place Cashier Girl in New Haven: "That's crazy. That is crazy. That's soooo crazy. that's crazzzzy."
Yale University Grounds worker (who woke me up from my stealth slumber): "WOOOOOOOOOWWWW."

It was amusing, but also frustrating to think to myself "whatever, compared to the guys who bikes thousands of miles over months, 200 miles over few days is pish-posh. I'm not crazy. this isn't that difficult. quit flattering me, people. I like to bike. that's all"

And it's funny how everyone is so taken aback when I suggest that they could easily do the same.

During my bike tours, I've been realizing how many people are physically capable of touring by bike but how few are mentally or psychologically equipped for such a trip.

Pedalling a bike — even a fully loaded bike — isn't all that hard. Some people can't cope with highway traffic. Others cannot handle the quietness and solitude of touring in the mountains or prairies. Some cannot comprehend travelling from one town to another by bicycle.

Very true ... I get asked "How do you do it?" quite frequently, and my first thought is ... I just get on my bicycle and ride. But for whatever reason it seems a lot more complicated (mentally and psychologically) than that for some people.

And the idea of going to another country is a huge deal for some. My coworkers (female coworkers usually) play a common lunch-time game I call "wouldn't it be great if" ... and in it they sit around and say things like ... "Wouldn't it be great if I could win this week's lottery ... I would catch the first plane to Paris" or "Wouldn't it be great if I could meet a man ... we'd spend our honeymoon in Thailand" or "Wouldn't it be great if we could all just fly to Cuba right now ... we could be lying on the beach in the sun with cold drinks ... " etc. etc. You get the idea. But the things is that not one of these women will take the first step toward saving up a bit of money, making some concrete plans, and going. There's some sort of block between the dream and the reality.

boredom is very much in the eye of the beholder. thats the thing with the internet no matter how wierd your pastime(or fetish.) is you can find a community of people who share the same obsession. Reading crazy man on a bicycle journals can get boring, talking to someone in person about there bike touring experiences is pretty intresting, actually doing it is pretty awesome.

I am going to stop touring now that I know it is boring. I think I will take up competitive eating... that will be my way to fame.

^^^^^^ hey man, don't give up cycling to do competitive eating, just use it as cross training. I know after a full day's ride I feel like I can eat 100 hotdogs in 12 minutes :thumb:

I get the sense that this is most true, and that most people are too caught up in car culture and see bikes as sport or toy to comprehend biking as transportation farther than 1 mile. My parents (in their mid 50s) just bought themselves electric assist bicycles to commute around the suburbia they live in, despite my encouragement and failed attempts to convince them that they could both quickly and easily get used to pedaling on their own-My father complains about the two 60ft elevation hills he'd encounter on the two-mile trip to the commuter rail station. Ah well, electric assist is a start, at least.

I fell in love with biking because of the sensory journey it creates, even on short commutes. I'm so in love with this aspect of biking I can barely stand to sit in a car for more than a few minutes now without wishing I was out on a bike. It saddens me that as a result of the automobile and the culture built up around it, to many,(especially those near cities) the sensory aspect of the journey traveling from one town to another is lost. That's not to say that I am anti-driving, but I definitely receive much more out of bike travel than I would be driving. Because of this, touring itself will never be boring to me. As others have said, touring's about the experience, so it's no surprise that reading about it can be much more boring (there's only imagined sensory journey in reading).

Oh man. I cringe when I think of the saddle sores........

"Pedalling a bike — even a fully loaded bike — isn't all that hard. Some people can't cope with highway traffic. Others cannot handle the quietness and solitude of touring in the mountains or prairies. "

I agree. The American culture is very car-centric. It is also very noisy. People have to have their cell phone, pda, iPod, news, etc. Most people I know would not be able to handle the solitude. They are so connected via the computer and cell phone, that a day of solitude would have the same effect as withdrawl for an addict. Here at BF, there are so many like-minded people gathered together to chat, that a question like "Has bicycle touring beome boring?" is inconcievable and impossible.

BTW, I really like cross training the touring and competative eating. I wonder if you would get an upset stomach eating quickly to feed the hungry belly?

Keep up the interesting discussions and ideas. Oh and keep riding. :thumb: